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They Joys of Owning an Older Dog (Health Problems)

I think my poor wife went into a minor panic last week – our poor old dog, Poppy, had her regular checkup and a number of chronic problems were picked up.

Poppy is a 10 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who has been my wife's baby and a member of the VetShop family since we started the business 11 years ago. But rather than think maudlin thoughts, we're going to make her senior years as wonderful as possible, and cherish the time (years, I hope) that we have!

There is so much we can do to look after our senior pets! Here are some of the things that Poppy & I learned:

1. Regular checkups – there is nothing more important than a regular checkup (for us and our animals!) If we hadn’t found out about these problems, we wouldn’t have been able to help our old girl!

2. Supplements – Poppy has been diagnosed with severe arthritis in the back knees. I’ve put her on a life-long daily dose of Sasha’s Blend tablets, which will help to protect her joints, and help prevent further deterioration. We want the rest of her days to be as active and pain free as possible. Because of the arthritis, we are also being careful of how the children lift and carry her, and monitoring her use of our stairs.

3. Teeth Cleaning – I will confess – I have probably been a little lax in this department and have now paid the price! 4 rotten teeth, and oral surgery to correct this, didn’t come cheap! Now, I’ll be cleaning Poppy’s teeth, and those of her little sister Rosie, much more regularly. If you start cleaning your dog’s teeth when they are puppies, this routine is even easier to establish!

4. Canine Probiotics – Poppy is now on a course of canine antibiotics, following surgery. And just as these drugs can upset our system when we take antibiotics, the digestive system of dogs can use some extra help when they are taking canine antibiotics as well. Poppy is now taking a prodigestive, to reestablish all the good gut microflora.

We are so thrilled how quickly Poppy has recovered from her oral surgery (thanks, Dr Josh!) and how active she is - and we'’ll be taking a little extra care of our much loved senior citizen from now on!